


when the ivy found its tower

by hotdamnitszuko



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Forbidden Love, Yue (Avatar) Lives, and marries hahn after sokka leaves, just set in the future, kind of. yue is married but hahn knows she loves sokka, this is based loosely on ivy by taylor swift bc im addicted to evermore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:02:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29100711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotdamnitszuko/pseuds/hotdamnitszuko
Summary: sokka goes back to the north pole to learn more about his sister tribe before he is ready to take over the job of chief. yue finds that even after all these years and an arranged marriage, she never got over her love for sokka.
Relationships: Sokka/Yue (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8
Collections: Avatar Rarepair Exchange 2021





	when the ivy found its tower

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thatwasanticlimactic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwasanticlimactic/gifts).



> hiiii
> 
> i'm so excited to write this lil mini-fic for this rare-pair collab!! it was so fun to explore a relationship that i don't get to read in fics a lot. i'll never get over how beautifully tragic sokka and yue's love story is. this is just a quick little thing based on the song "ivy" by taylor swift (which is 100000% a yukka song. if you haven't heard it yet i highly recommend that you give it a listen!). i am looking forward to writing more about these two in the future :)

_My Sokka,_

_It is wonderful to hear that the fish season is plentiful this year. I think that this world has been too full of sorrow for too long, and that nature is finally starting to heal from it. The spirits can feel the emotions that we give off, and I believe that our wars and tragedy were hurting them. Have the spirits lights been brighter there, too? They help remind me that the spirits haven’t forgotten us, and offer such an incandescent feeling to this cold palace._

_I hope to see you soon, Sokka. The North has missed you almost as much as I have._

_All my love, Yue_

* * *

_Dear Yue,_

_Should I send your father word of the way you are feeling? You talk so much of the sadness we have all felt, but we shouldn’t spend time grieving the living. We have put this world through so much that it has to retaliate in order to survive. But I can forgive the spirits for these actions against humanity, and that is because in the end, they gave me you._

_I set out at the end of the full moon. Try to get away from that dread of a husband on the first night I arrive, and we can see these lights together, alright?_

_Yours, Sokka._

* * *

The very moment that Sokka’s snowshoes hit the solid ground and he was surrounded by the ice walls that encased the Northern Water Tribe, he was on a mission to find out where Yue was. 

He had been in contact through letters with her all these years. They kept each other up to date on everything. Sokka sent Yue letters about the rebuilding of the Southern Water Tribe after the war, and Katara and Aang’s growing family. Yue responded every time with perfected calligraphy filled scrolls of every event the nation held, and her long-planned marriage to Hahn. 

Their latest exchanges have consisted of setting up plans for Sokka to travel up to visit for a few months. He has a lot to do when it comes to preparing for when it is time for him to take over as Chief from his father, and his first stop is to their sister tribe. 

(It was no secret between the two of them that they still held all of the same feelings that did when they were just sixteen. Things had gotten complicated after Yue went through with her marriage, but Sokka hadn’t expected her to anything else. He loved her with everything he had, but she had to do what was best for her tribe and people.

Sokka had loved Suki too. The only downside to falling in love with headstrong, independent women was that there were lots of nights alone and weeks without seeing each other because both of their lives had become so busy after the war.)

When Sokka got to the bridges that led to the spirit oasis, he saw the ever-familiar white hair spilling over blue covered shoulders sitting beside the water.

“Yue!” His voice carried over the gentle sound of the water. 

Her head rose quickly, smile spreading as she shoved up from the ground with an unmatched amount of grace. “Sokka, you’re here.”

Only seconds passed before they were in each other's arms. The change in height difference was something that they still hadn’t gotten used to over their few and far between days together over the last decade. To comfortably wrap his arms around Yue’s waist, her feet were lifted clean off of the ground by at least a few inches.

Her easy laughter filled the air around them. They felt just as young as they had the first time they were here, both wearing their years well.

* * *

They hadn’t meant to sneak out of the ball thrown in honor of welcoming Sokka back to the nation. Honestly.

Sokka had been the one to catch eyes with Yue across the floor, where she stood under the arm of her husband. But it was Yue that managed to guide his eyeline towards the single unguarded door that begged them to step away from the music and drinking and dancing. 

That was how they found themselves tucked into a cold alcove, moonlight pouring between the open curtains.

“What would you do? If I told you that I loved you,” Yue’s voice was warm compared to the air that made its way through the window.

“I would probably…” There was a heavy pause that hung in the space where their two chests rose and fell, fingers lacing together right below it. “I would probably try and kiss you.”

The smile on Sokka’s face was shy but inviting. It always had been, since they were younger and had first met. They were just kids, then. How had they ever been that young?

“I probably wouldn’t let you… at first,” Yue had a cheeks to cheek grin on her own face, showing her wicked side that Sokka always found himself falling victim to. A side of her that was unlike the facade she was forced to have when she was around anyone but him.

Sokka leaned into her ear before speaking again, “And what would your husband think, if he found me kissing his wife?” 

Yue squeezes his tanned fingers with her own, earrings twinkling with the shaking of her head, “He has always known that I would never fully be his. My love has only ever been for you and for my people. Hahn could only ever wish to have what you do.” 

Sokka knew this, but it never fails to make him feel butterflies mimicking those he felt the first time he saw Yue sitting in that kayak. 

* * *

Sokka’s stay in the North could never last forever, no matter how many nights he laid up begging the spirits for just that to happen. It felt like no time before he was standing on the docks with his bags being put onto a ship that would set sail back to his home.

But truthfully, part of his home would always live between the ice walls and inside the chest of the princess that roamed them. He had made roots in the permanent winter-scape, no plans to ever extract them.

He made his goodbyes, brushing tears from Yue’s rosy cheeks with a promise to see her soon. Just before he boarded the boat, he pressed a folded letter into her gloved palm. Sokka’s touch lingered almost as long as his eyes did as they watched the shore get smaller and smaller behind the frigid waves.

When he would get back home, there would already be a letter waiting for him on his nicely made bed of furs.

Sokka would wait to read it until after everyone welcomed him home and he could get a moment to himself just as the moon hit the middle of the sky. He would light a candle, lean over his desk like he was trying to guard the letter from the spirits above so that he could get the first glance at what the inked words on the paper between his fingers said.

* * *

_My Yue,_

_I wish for a time when I never had to leave you, but we both owe parts of ourselves to our nations. I wish for a time when I could steal you away from all of this and start new. I wish for a time you can be fully mine, without having to hide away and without having to pretend that I don’t live and die for every moment I get to spend with you in my arms._

_Forever a part of you, Sokka_

* * *

_Dearest Sokka,_

_I have been thinking about how war is what brought you to me. And how it feels as though we are living in our own version of a war, unable to find an end where both sides will come out as the victor. I want you to know that this is the most important fight of my life, and I have no intention of losing. I never wish to stop growing with you._

_I love you, Yue._

**Author's Note:**

> i hope u enjoyed!!! please check out all of the other fics in this collection, there are so many amazing authors that worked on this and they're all so amazing!! 
> 
> kudos and comments are ALWAYS appreciated, and you can find me on tumblr at the same username (hotdamnitszuko)


End file.
